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I recently saw Pink Floyd''s The Wall, the 1982 movie. Great stuff. And also, I''ve recently seen cartoon network''s Big O. Again, great stuff.
But this has got me thinking. A lot of games renound themselves for believable physics engines and such, but I was wondering if a player would be able to handle a game that delve a bit into the abstract? Computer Simulation, Dream World, take your pick.
To give a for instance, imagine a world map that was just a Phrenology model, and individual portions of the brain led to different areas. Or, perhaps the player playing two stories at once and never (eventually) being informed as to which one is reality and which is fantasy, and theres plenty of evidence in both to support that one is a fantasy of the other. Or think the movie Lost Highway where time was treated as a mobius strip.
Of course, as a player I''d want to see a point be developed eventually. Even if it had inanimate objects talking to me. But could this type of avant-garde gameplay be handled?

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quote:imagine a world map that was just a Phrenology model, and individual portions of the brain led to different areas.

Can''t imagine it because I don''t get it. Where''s the brain, and how does one enter it in order to be led to different areas? Whose brain is it? PC''s? NPC''s?

quote:Or, perhaps the player playing two stories at once and never (eventually) being informed as to which one is reality and which is fantasy, and theres plenty of evidence in both to support that one is a fantasy of the other.

Love the idea.

quote:Or think the movie Lost Highway where time was treated as a mobius strip.

I don''t get this either. Time is a single dimension, and a moebius strip has a two-dimensional surface. You just mean a loop? In which case, by what mechanism would the character forget the previous iteration of the loop? I think this idea could be pretty interesting if it were fleshed out.

And yes, the player can handle it (in my case, I will like it iff the denouement is less abstract than the beginning).

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in lost highway a loop is not exactly the right metaphor. the main characters basically come around the story again tough this time they are the opposite person. it''s wierd, watch it.

something like that could be very cool. there was a post a while ago in some forum or other describing a situation where the main character, near the beginning of the story is in a room looking at a mirror. then his reflection looks psychotic and lunges through the glass to kill him. the player defeats his doppleganger <sp?> and continues the story. later on for some reason or other the player finds himself on the other side of that reflection and for good plot reasons (not spelled out) attacks his former self. he can obviously beat his former self or the game would suck, so it''s kind of like a loop in time, but it''s a paradoxical one.

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quote:imagine a world map that was just a Phrenology model, and individual portions of the brain led to different areas.

Can''t imagine it because I don''t get it. Where''s the brain, and how does one enter it in order to be led to different areas? Whose brain is it? PC''s? NPC''s?

Phrenology was a quack concept of how the brain works, which you had some kind of measuring device to determine the diameter between two sides of the head. Heres a link, http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/phrenology/. Its more of an artistic thing now than an actual science, so I speak strictly from artistic terms when I say the player can enter Inhibitions.

quote:

quote:Or think the movie Lost Highway where time was treated as a mobius strip.

I don''t get this either. Time is a single dimension, and a moebius strip has a two-dimensional surface. You just mean a loop? In which case, by what mechanism would the character forget the previous iteration of the loop? I think this idea could be pretty interesting if it were fleshed out.

This is one of those things where you have to watch it to know what I''m talking about, and even then you probably won''t get it. Just so you understand the model, the movie has two stories, and the last event in the first story is the first event in the second story, and the last event in the second story is the first event in the first story. Very weird stuff. Thats why I ask if this type of artistic flow could be translated into gaming.